A Fort Hare University agricultural science student is lucky to be alive after surviving a serious accident that caused his vehicle to explode, scattering debris across a vast area.
Sizwe Tekwana, 30, a master’s student, was in pain and severe discomfort when he spoke briefly to the Daily Dispatch yesterday from a hospital bed in Alice. He said he was still not sure if he had suffered a fracture anywhere and didn’t know how the accident happened.
Tekwana referred further queries to his mother, who could not be reached at the time of writing. Staff in the agricultural department had no knowledge of the incident close to the main entrance of the Alice campus late on Sunday night and the university’s media managers did not respond to repeated calls.
But eyewitness and communications professor Marc Caldwell said: “He (Sizwe) walked away from the crash. He can’t believe he’s alive. Neither can anyone else.”
Caldwell said he heard a loud sound at about 10.30pm on Sunday about a kilometre from the main entrance to the university.
“I went outdoors and saw flames leaping up about two storeys high behind the tree line over the road approaching Alice. Then there was a second blast, but a smaller shock wave.
“I saw a man appear from the side of the road, silhouetted against the flames. He moved his arms wildly and appeared from his movements to be very distressed.”
Caldwell said a member of the agricultural science department told him the driver was Tekwane, a master’s student in the department.
“He said he walked away from the crash unhurt.”
Caldwell said pieces of the vehicle were strewn down the side of an embankment. The car appeared to have hit at least one of a number of tall trees alongside the road and was torn in two, with sections strewn around and the mid-section burnt out.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Siphokazi Mawisa confirmed that a university student travelling on the R63 road had collided with a tree.
The student was alone in the vehicle at the time and was taken to hospital for treatment. She said police had opened a case of reckless and negligent driving.
UFH student in lucky escape as car disintegrates
Sizwe Tekwana, 30, a master’s student, was in pain and severe discomfort when he spoke briefly to the Daily Dispatch yesterday from a hospital bed in Alice. He said he was still not sure if he had suffered a fracture anywhere and didn’t know how the accident happened.
Tekwana referred further queries to his mother, who could not be reached at the time of writing. Staff in the agricultural department had no knowledge of the incident close to the main entrance of the Alice campus late on Sunday night and the university’s media managers did not respond to repeated calls.
But eyewitness and communications professor Marc Caldwell said: “He (Sizwe) walked away from the crash. He can’t believe he’s alive. Neither can anyone else.”
Caldwell said he heard a loud sound at about 10.30pm on Sunday about a kilometre from the main entrance to the university.
“I went outdoors and saw flames leaping up about two storeys high behind the tree line over the road approaching Alice. Then there was a second blast, but a smaller shock wave.
“I saw a man appear from the side of the road, silhouetted against the flames. He moved his arms wildly and appeared from his movements to be very distressed.”
Caldwell said a member of the agricultural science department told him the driver was Tekwane, a master’s student in the department.
“He said he walked away from the crash unhurt.”
Caldwell said pieces of the vehicle were strewn down the side of an embankment. The car appeared to have hit at least one of a number of tall trees alongside the road and was torn in two, with sections strewn around and the mid-section burnt out.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Siphokazi Mawisa confirmed that a university student travelling on the R63 road had collided with a tree.
The student was alone in the vehicle at the time and was taken to hospital for treatment. She said police had opened a case of reckless and negligent driving.
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